My conveyancer has informed me that lack of planning permission insurance is required on my purchase. What is the typical level of cover needed for conveyancing in Formby?

The appropriate level of lack of planning permission indemnity insurance should be dictated by who your lender. It would differ for example between Accord Mortgages Ltd and Coventry Building Society. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to borrowers take out such policies.

I happen to be the sole recipient of my late grandmother’s estate with all property in now in my sole name, including the house in Formby. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in January. I want to move. I do know about the CML six month 'rule', which means that my property ownership will be regarded the same way as if I'd bought the property in January. Is the property unsalable for six months?

The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook mandates conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you might be affected by that. Some lenders would take a practical view as this requirement principally exists to capture subsales or the flipping of property.

Is it the case that all Formby CQS (Conveyancing Quality Scheme) solicitors are on the Nottingham conveyancing list of approved practices?

Some major lenders now make use of the accreditation scheme as the kick off point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS membership however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitors wishing to remain on their approved list of firms.

My colleague advised me that where I am buying in Formby I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

This is a search is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Formby conveyancing searches. It is a large document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out significant information about Formby around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Formby Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Formby.

It has been 3 months following my purchase conveyancing in Formby took place. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £160,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the residence from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

I'm buying a new build house in Formby with a mortgage from Birmingham Midshires. The developers would not reduce the price so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of additionals instead. The estate agent advised me not disclose to my solicitor about this extras as it could jeopardize my mortgage with the lender. Should I keep quiet?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

What tools are available to search for a Formby solicitor on the Santander conveyancing panel? I have a car and am happy to travel upto 10miles to meet the conveyancer.

Feel free to make use of the tool on this website. Please choose the lender and your location and you will see a number of Formby conveyancing lawyers located nearest you. We have detailed some Formby conveyancing firms towards the end of this page and you can call them to see if they are on the Santander panel